1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a screw with a recessed head and also relates to a driver bit capable of engaging with the recessed head of the screw, wherein the head has a cruciform recess for receiving a torque from the driver bit.
2. Prior Art
Phillip's crossing recesses have been employed in many countries as the recesses to be formed in some types of screw heads, and now have spread worldwide. Those screws with such prior art recessed heads afford sure transmission of torque by virtue of their crossing recesses. The driver bits can fit in the recesses snugly and firmly, thereby improving operation efficiency in tightening or removing those screws.
It is however noted that there have arisen certain problems in cases wherein some quenched and hardened self-tapping screws or self-drilling screws had been involved. These screws usually require stronger thrust when tightened. The crossing recesses widely adopted have in general their bit-sticking regions that are disposed near the centers of said recesses, so that thrust is born merely with smaller areas. A strong bending moment produced from the tightening torque is thus imparted mainly to such a small area in each recessed head. Those heads of the exemplified screws have however so hard heads that the driver bits' recess-sticking portions have been abraded early and seriously, causing a less reliable sticking engagement of the driver bits with the recessed heads. There has been a further problem that motor-driven or otherwise automatic screw drivers have often encountered breakage and/or cam-out of their bits, due to an over-torque that in turn has been caused by inexpert operators.
In order to resolve the problems inherent in the prior art, some proposals have been made to employ sophisticated recesses in place of such simply crossing ones of the screw heads, with driver bits also being modified to match the sophisticated recesses. The proposed recesses in the screw heads are suited to transmit a higher torque (as disclosed for instance in the Japanese Patent Laying-Open Gazette No.3-292407, Japanese Patent Publication No. 737805 and the U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,954).